All posts tagged: KR

In Istanbul the “Language Of The Wall”, Street Art, and Graffiti

In Istanbul the “Language Of The Wall”, Street Art, and Graffiti

“The Language Of The Wall. Graffiti / Street Art” Pera Museum. Istanbul, Turkey

No Street Artist is a prophet in his own land, to paraphrase the Latin “Nemo propheta in patria”.

To see a large show of new Street Art in a museum right now don’t think of New York.  Surprisingly a vibrant and impactful art scene that has foundational roots in NYC streets and culture is once again celebrated more often by major museum exhibits elsewhere in the world.

In Istanbul they even invite you to paint on trains.

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-C215-evol-istanbul-pera-08-14-web

With portraits by C215 of his daughter in the background, Evol moves his sculptures for his installation. Pera Museum. Istanbul, August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

The nine year old Pera Museum is currently hosting 20 artists from America, Germany, France, and Japan, along with some more local talents and is featuring photographers whose New York work is considered seminal such as Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant, and the California skate culture documenter Hugh Holland.

The detailed study of New York graffiti, train writing, hip-hop culture, and the evolution that pushed this current explosive growth of Street Art are all evident in the curation and choices by Roxane Ayral. Language of the Wall is cognizant of the weight of graff history while looking squarely in the eye of the present and considering the interdisciplinary nature of today’s scene, the show is at once expansive and tightly lyrical. The swath of new works inside the museum and out on the streets of Istanbul is a mix of respected older graff writers and some of the newer practitioners including Futura, Carlos Mare, Cope 2, Turbo, Wyne, JonOne, Tilt, Psyckoze, Craig Costello (aka KR), Herakut, Logan Hicks, C215, Suiko, Evol, Gaia, Tabone, Funk, and No More Lies.

Over the course of the installation, Martha Cooper traveled the city and captured the new works by the artists and she shares with us her shots and some of her observations.

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-C215-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-1

Parisian Street Artist C215 working on his stenciled installation outside. His daughter and frequent muse, Nina, on the street is assisting him. Istanbul, August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-C215-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-2

C215. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-evol-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-2

Evol. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-evol-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-1

Evol working on an outdoor installation. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-mare-istanbul-pera-08-14-web

Carlos Mare (Mare 139) working on his installation. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Mare worked with a local foundry to produce 3 big welded sculptures and 2 little “B-Boy” ones,” says Ms. Cooper. “The foundry was able to produce pieces of metal with Islamic patterns, which I found impressive. This was the first time Mare was able to design the metal in this way.”

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-tilt-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-1

Tilt. An assistant helps hang the bus as canvas. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Tilt painted a garbage truck with his iconic throwup,” says Ms. Cooper, of the actual truck he painted on the street. “The garbage men gave him an official shirt to wear and he painted their names (and mine) on the truck. He also painted an entire bus that had been cut apart and hung on the wall of the museum.”

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-tilt-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-3

Tilt in action. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-tilt-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-2

Tilt painted a garbage truck. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-no-more-lies-istanbul-pera-08-14-web

No More Lies. His assistant and girlfriend, an artist named Merve Berkman, is shown here painting an intricate stencil. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-suiko-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-1

Suiko working on his installation. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Suiko is from Hiroshima, Japan. We were in the museum on the anniversary of the bombing on August 16th,” says Martha. “Hiroshima, synonymous with nuclear bombs, now sells spray paint for graffiti bombing. Crazy world!”

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-suiko-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-3

Suiko. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-herakut-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-1

Herakut sits atop their outside installation. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Imagine you had to teach your kids never to laugh” is the translation of the text, which Martha says was Herakut’s response to a Deputy Minister’s outrageous statement that women shouldn’t laugh in public.

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-herakut-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-2

Herakut in action inside the Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-jonone-istanbul-pera-08-14-web

JonOne “came last and painted fast,” says Martha. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-gaia-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-2

Gaia in front of his installation. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Street artist Gaia did very labor intensive pieces inside and outside the museum “commemorating those that have lost their lives in construction murders due to lack of safety, regulation and corruption,” he says. For more information on Workers’ Families In Pursuit of Justice please go to http://iscinayetleriniunutma.org/ .

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-gaia-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-3

Gaia. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-gaia-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-1

Gaia at work on his outdoor installation of workers helmets and Forget-Me-Not flowers. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-turbo-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-2

Turbo in action. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-shot-to-kill-turbo-istanbul-pera-08-14-web

Shoot To Kill . Turbo. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Turbo has the reputation of being one of Turkey’s first writers. He’s an archivist with many graff related collections (cans, markers, books etc). His crew is S2K—Shoot to Kill,” says Ms. Cooper.

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-logan-hicks-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-1

Logan Hicks in action. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-logan-hicks-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-2

Logan Hicks photo-realistic stenciling on display in this outdoor installation. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-futura-istanbul-pera-08-14-web

The New York legend Futura was one of the first graffiti writers to break new ground into abstraction, and more than 30 years after his first foray, is kicking it. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-mist-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-1

Mist in action. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Mist painted a bold abstract wall in the museum and numerous pieces outside,” remarks photographer Cooper.  “I liked his ‘Mistanbul’ piece the best.”

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-mist-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-2

The Mist rolldown gate, “Mistanbul”. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-psyckoze-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-2

Psyckoze. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Psyckoze is famous for being the king of the Paris catacombs. He knows every nook and cranny,” reports Ms. Cooper.  “I once spent the night there—scary and completely confusing if you don’t have a guide. Psyckoze made an installation replicating a room in the catacombs reproducing paintings that were actually there.”

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-kr-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-2

KR. Pera Museum. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“KR did his extinguisher thing inside the museum and it turned out great—sort of a delicate blizzard of criss-crossing spray. I liked this shot of the cleaning lady in his room – Who’s to decide what needs cleaning?” asks Martha.

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-yards-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-1

The action at the train yards. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

A highlight of the events was the opportunity for many of the artists to legally hit a number of train cars in the yards, and archetypal right of passage immortalized by a handful of New York photographers in the 1970s and 1980s like Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, among others. Martha was at least as excited as the artists and felt like she was in a movie she had seen before, but with new enthusiastic  actors and actresses – and without the fear of being arrested.

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-psyckoze-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-1

Psyckoze at the train yards. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-suiko-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-2

Suiko at the train yards. Istanbul. August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

brooklyn-street-art-Cooper-yards-istanbul-pera-08-14-web-2

A new classic by Martha Cooper of the action at the train yards. Istanbul, Turkey August 2014. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Language Of The Wall Graffiti / Street Art” exhibition is currently on view at the Pera Museum in Istanbul, Turkey. The show closes on October 05, 2014. For more information click HERE

 

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Pera-Museum-Istanbul-Screen-Shot-2014-08-19-at-8.32

 

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA
 
Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!
 
<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA
 

 

Read more

Monster Island in Williamsburg; 2004-2011

By now it has been very well documented that Monster Island in Williamsburg, Brooklyn has closed its doors after seven years of art exploration and experimentation with murals, art shows and music concerts. The building is set for demolition and it is rumored that it will be replaced by a Whole Foods Store.

During these years we’ve watched the exterior of Monster Island with great interest as it was an every-changing heaven for emerging artists to show their stuff to the public. The environment engendered creativity; With non for profit art galleries and performance spaces, an underground music venue, a surf shop, a screen-print studio, a recording studio, several artists studios and a family of lovely street cats, Monster Island was a symbol of what Williamsburg was all about; artists and community struggling to make cool stuff for each other and sometimes a big audience. Since the early 1990s, ad-hoc love-driven venues like this have opened and closed, along with art parties, loft performances, artist collectives, and a loose association of art galleries. The settlement of writers, dancers, bands, performers, and all sorts of artists helped give the area a decided edge, even if you couldn’t convince your Manhattan friends to come visit the neighborhood at night.

Kid Acne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Now “The Edge” of course is the name of a corporate looking glass tower on the waterfront and the moderate frightened masses began their march to Williamsburg after the developers re-zoned 30+ blocks in North Brooklyn in 2005, transforming it quickly to a New York suburb with quirky, kooky shopping opportunities. It’s an old story, but we have to tell it; Now the rents are too high and the culture is increasingly inhospitable to artists and the Monster Island landlord has a different plan for the lot and the lease wasn’t renewed.  Williamsburg is going upscale just like Manhattan and the rest of the city and for struggling artists and the venues that give them shelter and nurture them this is another reason why we are watching people move to other neighborhoods or out of New York altogether. In a way, this is what NYC is all about; Re-invention and greed.

We have been photographing the ever-changing facade of this building that was offered as a canvas for local and visiting artists all over the world to put their art up. Today we pay homage and say farewell to this iconic institution and to the people that endeavored to make it unique with a photo essay of the numerous murals that went up there since 2004. We have made an effort to identify most of the artists. Please let us know if you know the names of the artists we have tagged as unknown or if we erroneously credited a piece of art.

Armsrock (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Armsrock (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Maya Hayuk (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ripo and Maya Hayuk (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 “This Wall Could Be Your Life” was a 7-year project conceived, curated and solely funded by Maya Hayuk. “For the following seven years artists were invited from all over the world, given paint, space and freedom to create” Maya Hayuk. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This spring the Lilac bush outside the building was majestic. Punto and Blok’s mural on the background. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wolfy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Noah Sparkes (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA pulls a rabbit out of a hog. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO and Zosen  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO and Zosen working on a makeover. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Waldo with a hook looks on as an artist works on a makeover. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Troy Lovegates AKA OTHER. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Troy Lovegates AKA Other, Deuce 7 and Pork. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

YOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent and Hellcat (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cat with Punto’s mural in the background. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

I just finished my installation. Time to take a cat nap. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Spring 2011 model. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kyle Ranson and Oliver Halsman Rosenberg. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Julia Langhof (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Maya Hayuk. As a final collective event, a paint pour and block party was organized in September. Multiple artists went up to the roof and poured paint down the walls, a colorful blessing on the home that gave so many opportunities to artists and built community.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Maya Hayuk. Paint Pour (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An unknown artist painted this figure while the building awaits demolition. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Uphues gives the building a heart while it awaits demolition. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read more
Images Of The Week 12.19.10

Images Of The Week 12.19.10

Brooklyn-Street-Art-IMAGES-OF-THE-WEEK_05-2010

Our weekly conversation with the street, this week featuring Alec, C215, Cash4, DestroyRebuild, Egypt, Katsu, Kid Zoom, Kouka, KR, NohJColey, ROA, Samson, and WK Interact.

brooklyn-street-art-roa-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

ROA had a brief stopover in Brooklyn from LA before returning home, and he had a moment to leave us a gift on the driveway gates at Factory Fresh in Bushwick (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-cash4-egypt-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

Cash4, Egypt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-katsu-destroy-rebuild-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

Katsu DestroyRebuild (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-alec-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

Alec does Twiggy, Andy, and Graffiti (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-c215-monkeys-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

C215 with Monkeys (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-KR-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

KR at Monster Island (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-kouka-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

Kouka (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-nohj-coley-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

NohjColey enters the street as a sculptor for the first time.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-share-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

A Holidays sentiment, and the case for Collective Consumption. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swirl- candy-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

Here’s a nice lollipop.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-wk-interact-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

This WK Interact piece has been on this wall for a long time. This time I liked the late Autumn light and the play between the climber and the stair case shadows against the white wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-samson-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

The mighty Samson has finished his mural in Bushwick (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-kid-zoom-jaime-rojo-12-10-web

Kid Zoom’s Bear and Hands currently on view at the Opera Gallery Pop Up Shop in The Meat Packing District of Manhattan (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read more

Barnstormers Coming to Joshua Liner in March

BarnStormers! Yee Hawwwww!

Famed Barnstormers!

Famed Barnstormers!

I first saw an iteration of this collective at their 2001 installation at SmackMellon in Dumbo, Brooklyn in an old spice factory – think David Ellis was doing a residency there...  Anyway, the roster and locations and breadth of projects that the Barnstormers were involved in has evolved over the last decade, but the wild-eyed no-holds-barred inventive quality stays solid. This is a show I’m not missing.

The new group exhibition at Joshua Liner Gallery will feature works in a variety of mediums: painting, photography, video, mixed media works and installation.  Here’s a half hour presentation, or rather, performance piece from 2005.   An actual barn is involved.

Artists exhibiting at Joshua Liner will include:
Alex Lebedev, Alice Mazorra, Bluster One, Che Jen, Chris Mendoza, Chuck Webster, David Ellis, Dennis McNett, Doze Green, GION, Guillermo Carrion, James Lynch, Joey Garfield, Jose Parla, Kenji Hirata, Kiku Yamaguchi, KR, MADSAKI, Manny Pangilinan (WELLO), Martin Mazorra, Maya Hayuk, Mikal Hameed, Mike Houston, Mike Ming, Miyuki Pai Hirai, Naomi Kazama, Pema Brush, Romon Kimin Yang (Rostarr), Shie Moreno, SWOON, West One, Yuri Shimojo and more.
Joshua Liner Gallery
548 W 28th St. 3rd Floor
New York, New York 10001
212-244-7415
joshualinergallery.com


Read more